Lenihan to have final say on Anglo Irish Bank records

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan will make the final decision on whether state-owned Anglo Irish Bank can continue to withhold documents from the Director of Corporate Enforcement (DCE) by seeking to have them deemed legally privileged.

Yesterday, in the High Court Justice Peter Kelly said the assertion of legal professional privilege (LPP) by the bank’s management over certain electronic documents is “a considerable impediment” to the DCE Paul Appleby’s investigation. Judge Kelly urged the bank to look again at whether it should maintain that claim.

He added that he found it curious that Anglo, a wholly state-owned bank, should continue to assert LPP in an investigation being carried out by a state official into the affairs of the bank prior to it being nationalised.